xmmfandomcom-20200213-history
The Lion's Den
Going undercover as Interpol agents pursuing a smuggling ring, X-Factor moves in pursuit of Carmen at her last-known location in Algiers, where she had just recently wiped Jean-Paul and Alden's memories when they got too close to her. The team is ambushed in a warehouse, and Jean-Paul, Alden, Bianca, Tom, Illyana, and Madrox (Prime) are captured. The Pied Piper Soldiers show up, having decided to work cooperatively after being informed of Trieu Thang and Carmen's likely presence, and Gregor Novotny takes command of the mission. After hijacking a helicopter, the team is rescued, Carmen is captured, and Trieu Thang, now mindwiped, is returned to his comrades. Events *The team realizes that the shirt burnt with the word 'ALGIERS' during a recent trip there is likely an attempt at communication by Trieu Thang and prepare a group to return. *Wary of Carmen, Jean-Paul insists that Tom scan every team member daily for telepathic influence. *Madrox and Bianca put up surveillance around the warehouse, covering its front, back, and side exits, while Tabitha monitored transmissions around it. Surveillance showed no signs of activity, though a car registered to a Basam Farid, showed up often in the vicinity. *Basam Farid's apartment was swept by Jean-Paul, Madrox, and Bianca, finding: **Laptop with communication related to the smuggling ring, detailing when he should do his job, orders to clean out the warehouse received about a week ago, and e-mails to a Laifaoui Karim over the months. **Two guns in Farid's dresser, a larger one in the top drawer and a smaller one in the sock drawer. We can assume he's armed when dealing with him. **Prescription painkillers prescribed by Dr. Nassim Yacef. He has written several of the same prescription over the last year or two, though the reasons have been pretty vague other than "chronic pain." **A bar address *Smuggling orders included some particular instructions on the shipment that was meant to come in a few days: it is indicated that the shipment was a mutant of special importance, and the smugglers were given particular instructions on sedation methods. They are not particularly strange drugs; rather, the instructions have been given more clearly due to the importance of the shipment. *Tabitha piggybacked the signal from an on-board GPS in Karim's car to track his movements. It didn't move. *Alden and Nadia went to speak to Laifaoui Karim under their covers of being Interpol agents. Using her mutation, Nadia was able to determine that: **Carmen is the ring's most powerful client: it is on her say-so that they have packed up the operation and laid low. Karim has never seen Carmen, never dealt with her in person. **He has met with a man named Silvio Constantini at a bar with Farid multiple times. *Alden was able to plant a bug before Karim became suspicious, cause uncertain. He recognized the inhibitor for what it was. The agents were able to exit, despite exchanging fire. Alden was shot, Karim tranq’d by Alden, and shot by Nadia. Alden unharmed due to his body armor. *The bug was discovered. Before discovery, it picks up Karim’s wife calling two people: Dr. Yacef and Farid. He arrived at the house shortly after and swept for bugs, then packed Karim and his family out of town. *While Jean-Paul, Alden, Bianca, Tom, Illyana, and Madrox were at the safehouse, two Madrox duplicates as well as Nadia, Walter, Tabitha, and Aydan were on a mission to the bar which turned out to be a set-up. The safehouse group were subdued and captured with the safehouse's security and protections handily overridden by a team lead by Remaal al-Sahra's Military Doe. TEAM RESCUE *After realizing that the bar was a set-up, returned to the safehouse to find it empty. Nadia and Walter assumed joint leadership. (This would later be universally regarded as a mistake.) *Tabitha set up a secure frequency which Nadia and Walter used to call home and report the situation. She combed the equipment for bugs, found none, and tried to get a fix on the GPS from the captured team or Tom's microchip. She failed. *Began using a mobile-base approach: always on the move. *Madrox initiated his plan to cut off communication through chaos and implications of murder send back to Old Home. *Tabitha searched for areas of unusual power activity. Finding a large estate on the edge of the city that should be drawing power, but wasn't, she checked it against Old Home's databases. *Pied Piper Soldiers: **The PPS made contact and arranged a meeting. PPS informed of current situation, Madrox informed them of possible security leak. **Agreed to pool resource, share information, and follow the PPS's lead. ***This would prove to be a major source of tension among the remaining teammates. ***Aydan and Walter felt that Nadia had ceded her authority in doing this; Nadia and Tabitha felt that Nadia was doing this in order to get the PPS to cooperate. Madrox seemed more detached from it. ***PPS information included the cargo in Seattle being a mutant capable of dimension-hopping: Simon Mosse. They tracked chatter from Tompkins Square Park. They believe he was captured. *Following this point, all communication with OH was to have ceased. Gregor used his ability to check on Thang, Illyana, and Tom and found that they weren't at the estate. *XF/PPS surveillance of the estate began: they noted that people were moving things out. *They split into two teams, lead by a PPS member. *Madrox sent his final email to OH, implying he had murdered everyone in their beds. *Marcos **Sheila, Nadia, Aydan, and Tabitha gained custody of Marcos, who worked at the house estate, as he was leaving. They managed to convince him to be fairly talkative. They learned: ***Marcos has recently seen Jean-Paul, Illyana, Bianca, Tom, Alden, and Thang at the house. He does not know Farid. ***They were all moved from the house very quickly, recently. ***He also knows Carmen, and is absolutely terrified of her. He kept repeating 'she knows' and 'she will find out'. He refers to her as the Cucaracha. ***The house was home to something called 'Project Portal' and has been for years, since 'before the Cucaracha'. Marcos referred to mutants, scientists and equipment. ***They have been prepared to move at a moment's notice because of 'eyes' who were 'watching' because they were after their 'suppliers'. Marcos doesn't know whose eyes or when this began ('for some time'), but he knows that the 'fire boy' tipped them off 'last week' and that Carmen found out and 'took care of it' ***'they were after our suppliers! I don't remember when I first heard about it! Some two bit operation, Silvio laughed about it, he--' ***They found out that 'the fire boy' tipped them off '"After Nadine and the others dumped them back at their hotel. The next day, day after? I don't remember' ***Nadine is 'just one of us' ***There was a helicopter pad at the drop point for evacuation and they 'took them by helicopter'. Marcos is certain there's nothing left there now, just 'loose ends' ***'We were supposed to wait for instructions.' **Marcos was left cuffed to a pipe while they worked on leads and they probably let someone know where to find him before they left town. **Marcos's phone is RATHER INTERESTING. There are several texts from Silvio over the past several months referencing someone named Jessamyn and X-Factor related intel from her end that requires Marcos's attention as a lackey. On December 3, he received orders to prep for Carmen taking a mission to Darra. On December 10, it was a similar deal, but to Puente Sobre. **At some point early in the morning, Marcos's phone receives a new text: it has instructions to meet at the rendezvous point late this afternoon for transport. *The team at the rendezvous point (which is located at a complex belonging to El Kendi Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Corporation) gets an unpleasant meeting. PPS and the remaining XF agents get a helicopter. TEAM CAPTURED *We were, uhm, captured. *Initially held separately, mostly secured and sedated. Only Jean-Paul and Alden were allowed freedom of movement. *At some point, moved hastily to far less secure facilities and doubled-up. *The second facilities were not as secure, and rather than keeping Bianca and Tom on IVs, they came in to give them injections at regular intervals. Through vagueness and code, those being held coordinated enough to arrange the very bare outlines of a plan of escape. *Illyana gets free, breaks Madrox free, and then breaks Alden and Jean-Paul out. After that, they free Tom and Bianca. On their way out, they retrieve Thang. *They exit the building via the elevator shaft onto the roof. Irony engages in a telepathic battle with Carmen while the X-Factor agents defend themselves against the guards. REUNION *PPS, remaining team arrives in time to lethally subdue remaining guards and Carmen. Jean-Paul orders Alden to heal Carmen. *Guards disarmed, injured agents gathered, treated. Carmen stabilized. X-Factor agents and PPS removed to Casablanca for medical attention. *Carmen, Alden, Bianca, and Illyana all received medical attention. *Thang turned over into the care of the PPS, recommended to the immediate attention of Xavier's. *Carmen released into Carpenter's custody. Important Evidence *Remaal al-Sahra and Burro Shipping are discrete entities. Neither one of them runs mutant brothels. People Major *Carmen - Needled Tom and Illyana, shot a bunch, healed, captured, turned over into CIA custody. *Silvio Constantini - Attempted to suborn X-Factor agents. Unsuccessfully. Dick. Minor *Basam Farid - Small-time smuggler under Karim. Chronic pain condition. Usually travels armed. *Laifaoui Karim - Farid's superior. Suspected to be involved in organized crime. Left the city after X-Factor's visit. *Dr. Nassim Yacef - Mob doctor. *Military Doe - Present during Constantini's interrogations. Locations *Algiers, Algeria *Morocco Lab in Ksar-el-Kbir Links *Jean-Paul's prep memo *Kelsey shares what telepathic manipulation can feel like *Timeline, people, organizations. Category:Remaal al-Sahra Category:2010 Missions Category:Burro Shipping